Wilde: Evidence Packers are divided

First of all, read the previous post re the use of the word literally. Very funny. Many people use this word incorrectly and it can make you look pretty silly when you do – so read up.

Now, onto the article here, by Jason Wilde. Some very interesting interviews. He talks about specific players who appear to lean one way or the other on the Favre/Rodgers thing. Not really too surprising I guess, but interesting. He says that generally the younger players prefer Rodgers and some of the veterans want Favre back. He quotes James Jones as saying outright that he has a better relationship with Rodgers, Jennings as remaining neutral and Driver being clearly happy Favre may return. But the most interesting quote was from Charles Woodson. While Wilde’s take is that Woodson is “torn”, my guess is that he is not, that he is squarely in the Favre camp but he was being diplomatic at the end of the quote just in case Rodgers is the guy. Here it is, you decide:

“My feeling is, he never should’ve retired. I don’t believe in being pressured to retire. This is Brett Favre. You don’t pressure Brett Favre into retiring. So you wish he never had retired,” Woodson said. “(Then again), my opinion is, OK, we’ve seen Brett play, we know what he can do. We’ve seen him have bad years, bad games, too. We haven’t seen anything of A-Rod for a whole season. So how do we know what we gain or what we lose unless we see him?

“I’ve seen enough of (Rodgers) in practice to know he can play. Now is just the thing of going out and being a consistent. You don’t know until you get further down the line, but I think he’s going to be all right.”

One important note that backs up my belief that Woodson is a Favre guy is that at McCarthy’s press conference on Monday night when it was announced Favre had filed, a reporter (possibly Wilde) asked about whether the team was divided. The reporter asked “with players like Charles Woodson chanting ‘Brett Favre, Brett Favre’ in the background, do you have concerns the locker room will be divided?” Now, I wouldn’t put it past Charles to have done this in a joking way, perhaps with Rodgers around, but I get the sense that he feels Favre was pressured into retirement and it wasn’t right. I also believe that’s how Driver and probably a good number of others feel. It makes me wonder a little bit about how these other possible supporters of Favre view Thompson overall.

While the present divide is concerning, I don’t think it will take down the team, unless the decision re who will start is dragged out until just before the season starts. I have confidence in Mike McCarthy’s leadership skills and believe he will be able to get the team to rally behind whoever is named the starter.

i think it’s becoming clear (wine, clever humor, those socks) that woodson is not your typical nfl cornerback. he is, in fact, my new hero.

anyone who doesn’t get picked to be on andy/steve’s staff when they take over in green bay — we might want to pitch some sort of business venture to charles — perhaps a well-funded cheese shop to pair some cheddar with his cabernet?

I can only hope the “good humor” holds up. What I find interesting is Wilde’s comments about Jones. If that has substance, and we all know how incredibly inaccurate sports reporters are, there probably some underlying dissatisfaction last year. Winning just made it less visible to those of us on the outside.

Driver’s comments, so far, have been light and positive. Taucher and Cilfton are being careful in the few items I’ve seen from them. The remainder of the offense on the field now is young and would fall into the pro-Rodgers contingent (Wilde’s Definition). The defense pjays at a different time than Rodgers and should have no impact on the offense (satire)). So, all is well in Packerland.

I think we really won’t know until they are on the field. Maybe even in pre-season. Watch the sidelines closely. In the meantime, I’m concerned, very concerned.